Many people have become advocates of organic and natural foods, knowing that these foods are healthier than those that are commercially processed, vitamin enriched, and laced with antibiotics and other drugs. What many may not realize, however, is that the amount of foods consumed, even whole and natural ones, is even more important for longevity and better health.

Studies recently made in the research departments of some major American universities have found that by consuming 20 to 30% less calories per day, a person may actually add between 10 to 15 additional years to his or her life. Aside from this revelation, it has also been found that even those who consume what some may consider as non-wholesome foods (including “junk foods”) this overall reduction in total calories is still basically the same. Using laboratory rats, and feeding the control group a standard diet, it was found that those given less food actually lived longer, even though they may have been smaller and thinner than the control group.

It’s no secret the people who are overweight have more health problems including cardio-vascular disease, diabetes, and incidents of colon and other cancers, Thinner people are generally healthier and have a more positive mental outlook, which also affects their longevity. Taking these findings into account, this does not mean that people who are “super thin” will live longer. Those suffering from eating disorders, including anorexia are damaging their health by not consuming enough calories.

Types of food consumed, particularly diets with less red meat and dairy products, also help influence longevity, as well as a person’s genealogical makeup. People coming from families with longer life spans are more likely to live longer than those from families with shorter life spans. A diet of whole grains, fresh vegetables and fruit is much more beneficial that a diet consisting of fatty and starchy foods, including most dairy products.

In many Western countries, including the USA, far too much fatty and starchy foods are consumed as against more wholesome diets of less, but more whole grain and other wholesome foods. Diet is not the only factor however, as daily exercise of at least half an hour will help people maintain more healthier lives. This exercise can include a brisk walk around the block, or even inside a shopping mall. The most crucial factor, according to the aforementioned studies, is that by simply exercising one’s “table muscles” to leave the dinner table before too many calories are consumed will eventually work wonders toward maintaining better health.

All in all, it’s not only the old saying “you are what you eat”, but how much you eat as far as the deciding factor that may add longer and more productive years to your life.

Polar bears, like the one pictured here, have now been put upon the endangered species list due to global warming. In fact, fears for their survival have become so real by prominent environmentalists, that it has now been predicted that these Arctic carnivores may become extinct in the wild by the year 2050. The Arctic ice shelf, the bear’s hunting grounds, has been receding steadily for the past 30 years. The bears depend on large ice floes for both hunting and to bare their young, which occur in the spring. It has now been estimated that since the late 1970’s the total area of summer polar ice has declined more than 20 per cent and is accelerating each year at a much faster rate.

Polar bears depend on a steady diet of Arctic ringed seals, walruses and fish, all of which are declining or moving to other locations further north. With a decline in these food sources, polar bears will have no choice other than either to adapt to their new environmental reality – or die. And that ‘adaptation’ may force the bears to add another possible food source to their hunting forays – Man. Eskimos and other indigenous people who also live in the arctic regions, and depend on the same food sources as the polar bears may find themselves on ursus maritumus’ shopping list, as the bears loose their natural fear and apprehension and begin to approach villages and other places of human habitation to find food. People working in the far north, including oil well drillers, scientists, and other people may also be at risk, especially if they are out alone and far away from others.

Even now, with a shrinking habitat, polar bears are coming closer to settlements and are even raiding garbage dumps in search of food. While most bears are omnivorous by nature, polar bears have formerly relied on the food chain to receive their traditional diet of fresh seal meat as well as occasional whale carcasses. With present changes in their natural environment, there have even been reports of bears attacking baby beluga and narwhal whales, previously a rarity.

It’s a sad fact that many folks aren’t concerned about polar bears becoming extinct, like the pre-historic cave bear did, as long as enough remain in captivity in zoos (like the orphan baby bear in the Berlin Zoo). The bears may possibly even become another exhibit in places such as city aquariums or marine world exhibits, like beluga whales and sea otters. The truth is, though, is that the demise of such animals may be an omen in regards to our long term future on this planet – often called an island we cannot leave.

The threatened demise of ursus maritimus is only one example of the dangers that global warming is bringing upon the earth. If most of the Arctic polar ice cap melts, seas will rise at least 3 to 7 meters and most coastal cities, even those in the Mediterranean area, will find themselves under water. Hundreds – perhaps thousands of other plant and animal species will also be endangered and this will eventually threaten the future of Mankind as well. As long as fossil fuels continue to be consumed at the present rate, as is evident in many large cities, the effects of global warming, including famine and violent weather patterns, will create havoc to all of the inhabitants of our planet. There still may be time to reverse some of this threat by an international concerted effort to develop alternative energy sources. If this doesn’t happen, then not only will the polar bear one day be no more; even Mankind itself may find itself as being on the endangered species list.

Anybody who has visited one of the several health spas located at the Dead Sea, or has simply bathe in the sea’s highly saline waters, has surely seen people covering themselves with a black mud which is found abundantly on the shores of the world’s lowest point on earth. There is good reason why this is done, as the Dead Sea’s mineral rich water and mud have some of the most beneficial health properties of any such area in the world. By simply applying this substance to one’s skin and allowing it to remain for an hour or so before peeling and washing it off, those suffering from skin conditions such as psoriasis, or if looking for skin rejuvenation and anti-aging effects, will receive numerous benefits from the more than 17 minerals present in Dead Sea mud.

You don’t have to journey all the way to Israel to experience this, however, as a number of cosmetic companies offer Dead Sea Mud and other cosmetic products composed of the wondrous natural products which are harvested directly from the Dead Sea. Pure Dead Sea Mud can be found in both pharmacies and in the cosmetic departments of major department stores worldwide. The mud, which can be heated in one’s microwave oven to desired application temperature (be sure to follow instructions on the package when heating the mud in your microwave) will have almost the same effect as direct application on the shore of the Dead Sea. To give you an idea of this ‘miracle mud’s benefits, many of its minerals and their attributes are noted here:

Boron: Relieves psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis
Bromine: Soothes and tones skin tissue
Calcium: Helps cell production and bone tissue; treats osteoporosis
Lithium: Aids in treatment of psoriases
Manganese: Antioxidant; helps delay aging in skin tissue
Magnesium: Stimulates protein synthesis and body energy
Potassium: Helps clear up skin complexion problems such as acne
Sodium: Improves skin cell metabolism
Strontium: An anti-itching and irritant mineral, especially when many cosmetics are used frequently
Zinc: Helps cell renewal and fights free radical tissue degeneration. Good against acne.

Of course, the combined benefits of the enriched oxygen and sunlight radiation found at Dead Sea together with its mineral laden waters and mud give the maximum health results. But for those who live far away, it’s now possible to bring the benefits of the Dead Sea’s curing minerals into the comfort of your own home, and at a very reasonable cost.